Government must reach agreement on right to counsel for people at
Minnesota ICE facility, judge says
[February 07, 2026]
By STEVE KARNOWSKI
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys for the federal government have until next
Thursday to reach an agreement with human rights lawyers who are seeking
to ensure the right to counsel for people detained at an Immigration and
Customs Enforcement facility in Minnesota, a judge said Friday.
Advocates said people held at the facility on the edge of Minneapolis
who face possible deportation are denied adequate access to lawyers,
including in-person meetings. Attorney Jeffrey Dubner said detainees are
allowed to make phone calls, but ICE personnel are typically nearby.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel told Justice Department attorney
Christina Parascandola that there seemed to be a “very wide factual
disconnect” between what the human rights lawyers allege and the
government’s claims of adequate access at what ICE depicts as only a
temporary holding facility.
Parascandola said people detained at the facility have access to counsel
and unmonitored phone calls at any time and for as long as they need.
She conceded she had never been there.
Brasel called her argument “a tough sell,” noting there was far more
evidence in the case record to back up the plaintiffs’ claims than the
government’s assurances.
“The gap here is so enormous I don’t know how you're going to close it,"
the judge said.
Rather than ruling on the spot, Brasel told both sides to keep meeting
with a retired judge who's mediating and who has helped narrow some of
the gaps already. She noted at the start of the hearing that both sides
agreed that “some degree of reasonable access” to legal counsel is
constitutionally necessary but that they differed on the details of what
that should look like.
If the sides don't reach at least a partial agreement by 5 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 12, the judge said she'll issue her order then. She
didn't specify which way she'd rule.
A member of Congress decries conditions at detention center
The facility is part of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which
is a center of ICE operations and has been the scene of frequent
protests.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison, of Minnesota, said in a statement
Friday that conditions at the detention center continue to be poor. The
physician said she learned in her visit Thursday night that the facility
has no protocols in place to prevent the spread of measles to Minnesota
from Texas. At least two cases were reported at a major ICE detention
center in Texas this week.
Some Minnesota detainees including families with children have been sent
to the Texas facility, and some have returned to Minnesota after courts
intervened, including 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father.
“It’s abundantly clear that Whipple is not at all equipped to handle
what the Trump Administration is doing with their cruel and chaotic
‘Operation Metro Surge,’” Morrison said in a statement. “I am stunned by
the inability or unwillingness of the federal agents to answer some of
the most basic questions about their operations and protocols.”
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A University of Minnesota Police officer threatens student
protesters with arrest for chaining themselves to a door on campus
during an anti-ICE protest, on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, in Minneapolis.
(AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Even though a federal judge ruled Monday that members of Congress
have the right to make unannounced visits to ICE facilities,
Morrison said in a statement that agents attempted to deny her entry
for nearly a half-hour and demanded that she leave before eventually
letting her in.
On her first attempt last month, Morrison and fellow Minnesota
Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig were turned away.
After she was able to enter the facility last weekend, Morrison said
no real medical care was being offered to people held there.
Craig and Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum said they were turned away
despite the court order when they tried to visit the facility
overnight.
“We have heard countless reports that detainees are being held in
unlivable conditions at Whipple,” the two representatives said in a
statement. “We have every reason to believe that this administration
is once again lying through their teeth and trying to hide what we
all know to be true -- that they are ignoring due process and
treating immigrants as political pawns, not people.”
Man charged with felony for wrecking anti-ICE sculpture
A supporter of the immigration crackdown who posted a video on
social media of himself kicking down an anti-ICE sculpture outside
the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul was released from jail
Friday after being charged with a felony count of damage to
property.
Lt. Mike Lee, a spokesperson for the Minnesota State Patrol, said
Capitol Security observed Jake Lang, 30, of Lake Worth, Florida,
damaging the display Thursday afternoon. He was arrested a short
distance away. The ice sculpture spelled out “Prosecute ICE.”
At his first court appearance, Lang was released pending trial but
ordered to stay at least three blocks away from the Capitol. Court
records don't list an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
Lang was drowned out by a large crowd last month when he attempted
to hold a small rally in Minneapolis in support of the Trump
administration’s immigration crackdown. Lang was previously charged
with assaulting an officer and other crimes before receiving
clemency as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping intervention
on behalf of Jan. 6 defendants last year.
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